1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in energy consumption in a vehicle.
The invention is multi-purpose unit (MPU) for energy recovery from the cooling systems, exhaust system, ram pressure and breaking system.
2. Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Most vehicles use 24% of their energy to drive the vehicle 24% for the cooling system, 33% for exhaust gas and the remainder of the energy is used for heat radiation, engine friction and other losses.
The MPU recovers some of the energy from the cooling system by capturing the ram pressure through the radiation and using the captured energy in the MPU.
The MPU uses energy recovered from the exhaust gas by sending the exhaust gas back into the MPU and using it. The exhaust gas that is being discharged from the cylinder has a high pressure and high temperature. By sending the exhaust back to the MPU the MPU can recover some of the heat and the pressure and convert it into power.
The MCU can use the energy recovered from the breaking system.
The MPU changes the concept of a vehicle design by using the ram pressure as useful pressure rather than negative pressure on the vehicle. The frontal area of the vehicle is enlarged in front of the radiator to let more air enter into the unit and reduce the drag coefficient. This change results in a new concept of an aerodynamic vehicle.
The MPU unit will reduce the pollution significantly by mixing the exhaust gas with fresh air from the air ram and under high temperature and high pressure.
Elimination of the catalytic converter will further reduce cost and energy that is lost from passing exhaust gas through the catalytic converter.
A first storage tank is used for the engine as a supercharger and to start the engine. A second storage tank is used for energy storage from the braking system and from a plug-in power source.
The second storage tank is usable as a compressed air supply to supply high pressure air and for other uses such as but not limited to the suspension system of the vehicle, construction tools and for the braking system.
The multi-purpose unit (MPU) has an automatic transmission that uses multi-stage turbines as shown and described in patent application Ser. Nos. 12/145,469, 12/421,286 and 12/269,261 by the same inventor.
The radial engine is shown and described in the inventor's prior patent application Ser. No. 12/238,203 by the same inventor.
Several products and patents have been. Exemplary examples of patents covering these products are disclosed herein.
U.S. Patent application number 2007/0113803 published on May 24, 2007 to Walt Froloff et al., discloses an Air-Hybrid and Utility Engine that uses compressed air in combination with air that is delivered from a conventional intake manifold. In this application the air is compressed with a compressor for direct injection in to cylinders as needed. While this application uses compressed air from a storage tank the air is not compressed from an air ram system where the forward velocity of the vehicle generates some of the compression of the air into the manifold.
U.S. Patent application number 2007/0227801 published Oct. 4, 2007 to John M. Loeffler discloses a Hydraulic Energy Recovery System with Dual-Powered Auxiliary Hydraulics. This patent uses stored hydraulic pressure to turn the wheels of the vehicle. A gas powered engine is used to compress the hydraulic fluid and to move the vehicle as needed to supplement the hydraulic power system. This type of system is most ideally used in vehicles that have an extensive amount of hydraulic systems, such as a garbage truck or earth moving equipment. While it provides one mode of vehicle propulsion it also does not use air from an air ram system or use regenerative braking to further conserve energy.
What is needed is a pneumatic hybrid turbo transmission that uses multiple different energy conservation methods including using the air entering the front of the car to compress air that is used in the intake manifold, hydraulic and pneumatic storage to store energy that is lost. The pending application provides a solution to conserve energy losses and reduce pollution.